Taoyuan

Táoyuán (桃園) lies between New Taipei and Hsinchu on the Taoyuan Plateau of northern Taiwan. Though best known as home to Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport, the region has deep Hakka roots, with traditional family compounds preserved in Xinwu and large Hakka populations in Zhongli and Longtan. Daxi features one of Taiwan’s finest old streets and serves as the gateway to Shimen Reservoir; it also holds the mausoleum of Chiang Kai-shek, one of several retreats established by the generalissimo in the surrounding mountains.

The post-war period left a distinct imprint on the region. Military villages proliferated across districts like Guishan and the Longgang area of Zhongli, which is also home to the Longgang Mosque, built to serve Muslim soldiers who fled mainland China with the Nationalist army. In the mountainous east, Fuxing is Taoyuan’s sole Indigenous district, home to Tayal communities and remnants of Japanese colonial era police infrastructure once used to control the population.